Hi, thanks for reading.
I bought this frame from eBay listed as pinarello triviso Columbus SL tubing + campagnolo (which I assume is the fork ends, it’s got camp stamped on the dropouts).
Problem is that there is no P logo on the forks or the stray stays. Anyway. Everything screams fake. So do you have any idea what kind for frame it is?
Last photo is how I built the bike from eBay parts.
by mikachu666
6 Comments
If anyone is wondering.
The parts are:
– campagnolo Avanti calipers
– mavic open 4 CD with campagnolo hubs
– san Marco seat
– Cinelli head post and handle bar
– Campgnolo gran sport rear D
– campagnolo record front D
– campagnolo Chorus crankset
Well firstly you’d have to define “fake.”
At the time this frame was built there were hundreds of back street Italian frame jobber companies. The tubing sets & lugs could be bought from Columbus, and dropouts from Campy so these shops created both their own frames and also undertook commissioned work from the major brands.
I had a mid-80s Columbus SL from Swiss brand Oschner that was absolutely one of these. Quality was fine (fork was a Cinelli) but there was no traceable lineage beyond that except that it certainly wasn’t built in Oschner’s home country of Switzerland.
I own a 1988 Treviso. Your frame looks nothing like it. I guess it’s a fake, or could it be that it’s just significantly older?
What is the frame number and does it match any major manufacturer? The lugs and other details look quite decent though. Could be a quality frame, but no pinarello if you ask me.
I think I’d try to remove the paint slowly & see what I find. It needs a refinish, anyway. I assume the downtube bosses are stripped? Those could be replaced, if so.
My first thought was that it’s an older frame. I have a couple old pinarello frames. Neither of them show any signs of being built the same way/lugs/cable routing. But, this frame could be older.
I hope you can resolve the burning question…
Well the frame is almost definitely Columbus tubing because of the Campy dropouts but it’s a crappy paint job. I think it’s a Pinarello only because they masked off (badly) the Pinarello headtube sticker when painting it.
It’s an absolutely SHITTY paint job though, the frame looks like it was really abused and painted over to cover for that.
One thing I CAN tell you: You can at least verify it’s an Italian frame by the bottom bracket threading. (36x24tpi.)
Also take out the fork and see if there’s a Columbus dove stamped into the steerer tube, and the trademark rifling on the inside at the bottom of the steerer.
It looks legit to me. Nice tapering of the lugs to attempt to reduce the stress risers at the joints, campy dropouts, clean brazing, chromed right chainstay… it looks like it was ridden and has some scratches but a quality bike. Doing a quality repaint is too expensive and way too much hassle to be worthwhile. Unless the bike has crazy value because a famous star raced it to a victory at a big race it’s simply not worth their time. Faking a Rolex is worth the hassle and work but a bike shop around me would charge at least $500 to strip the bike down to a frame, track down decals, repaint it and then rebuild it. When you add in the risk of the shop damaging their reputation for it none would do it. I’ve known sketchy shops and seen the handiwork that they’ve done. I don’t think that it’s a fake ‘rello. If you doubt me have a closer look at the area around the downtube decal and look for scratched clear coat. Doing a good job spraying clear coat requires stripping it down to a frame. While not impossible it’s unlikely.